SAN ONOFRE: No record of reactor-pool falls like one at local nuclear plant

The worker who fell into a reactor pool at San Onofre Nuclear
Generating Station on Jan. 27 was not the first to make such waves
at a U.S. nuclear plant, but it's hard to determine how common such
falls are because none has generated a public report to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.

NRC spokesman Scott Burnell, who searched the agency's "event
notification" database at the request of the North County Times,
said no records of previous falls were listed, even though the
regulator knows they happen from time to time.

"Many longtime NRC employees can provide anecdotal evidence of
individuals falling into the spent fuel pool or refueling cavity,"
he said in an email.

But the falls don't trigger a report to the NRC because the
water in the reactor pools just isn't that radioactive, he
said.

The newspaper asked the NRC for a record of any pool falls after
the incident last month at San Onofre, when a contract employee
fell into the plant's Unit 2 reactor refueling pool.

San Onofre's owner, Southern California Edison, said the worker
received less than 5 millirem of radiation exposure ---- far below
the 5,000 millirem dose that would have required the fall be
reported to the NRC.

Edison did not report the incident, but word leaked out through
anonymous tips to the North County Times and other newspapers.

The fact that the NRC does not get directly involved in pool
falls unless they create a significant radiological exposure
doesn't sit well with some nuclear watchdog groups. They say the
commission puts too much faith in monitoring and reporting from
utilities.

Rochelle Becker, executive director of the
Alliance for Nuclear
Responsibility
, said she was referred to Edison when she asked
the NRC for more details about the radiation dose that the San
Onofre worker received.

"When you're telling the public to go back to the utility for
any more questions, I think that's an indication that there is too
much trust," Becker said.

Burnell said that there are checks and balances to make sure
that utilities such as Edison are being honest about the radiation
doses that workers receive while working at plants nationwide.

Though pool falls have never generated a formal event
notification to the NRC, Burnell said they would turn up in a
plant's electronic record-keeping system, which the regulator's
on-site inspectors would examine during regular quarterly plant
inspections.

Burnell said falls are considered along with other data recorded
in a plant's record-keeping system to determine whether an
operating utility has broader problems with its workforce.

"If our resident inspectors see a pattern of low-level
incidents, that can point to a problem with safety culture,"
Burnell said.

Indeed, Edison was under heightened scrutiny from the NRC for
about three years after inspectors noticed a pattern of low-level
problems that the regulator said in public meetings pointed to
potential problems with safety culture.

The NRC
said in 2011
that Edison has made significant
strides in addressing safety culture concerns.